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Chimera (City of Heroes)
Justin Sinclair code-named Chimera, or more commonly addressed by the people of Praetoria as "Praetor Sinclair", is an antagonist in the M.M.O. City of Heroes. He is a part of an alternate reality to the game's main one referred to as "Praetorian Earth" by the main reality, which the Praetorians refer to as "Primal Earth". Justin is a member of Praetoria's extremist government where the heroes of Primal Earth took over the world in order to better protect it (to varying levels of sincerity). Chimera is the Praetorian version of the Primal Earth Manticore. Even among his fellow extremist meta-humans Chimera was always a ugly side of "what needed to be done" for Emperor Cole. Manticore Deviant In Primal Earth, Justin Sinclair was a wealthy heir. As a child Justin watched as a super-criminal broke-into his parent's private home and killed them when caught. Justin remained unseen on the stair-case overlooking the grizzly scene. He has stated he cried out his life-quota of tears and so owes the world no more. Mr. Sinclair had taken-up the super-hero alter-ego "Manticore" and taken to fighting crime secretly, though the murder was not retribution - just a theft gone violent. Mr. Sinclair's old nanny, Virginia Bowman, found young Justin when she visited the estate, as she was also listed as his legal guardian she took to raising Justin as she had his father. As a "proper English woman of good breeding" she had raised Mr. Sinclair with a variety of skills like archery practice, martial training and proper movement - it was these skills that Mr. Sinclair honed into a crime-fighting-style. With his father's trainer and motivation to stop crime by any means, Justin took-on the mantle of 'Manticore' when he grew-up as well - his training with Ms. Bowman was far more specific though, as he knew exactly what he wanted to put it towards when he grew-up. In Praetoria Justin's life played out very differently because of one crucial difference in his parent's murder - the super-villain who murdered them noticed young Justin looking down from the stair-case. The criminal - a shape-shifter named Protean or "Doppelgänger" in Praetoria, saw the small witness to his crimes. Doppelgänger was not the type to leave witnesses, while killing him was an option he instead kidnapped him and raised him instead of Ms. Bowman. (As Doppelgänger was a shape-shifter it is unclear if he took-over the Sinclair's estate posing as them while raising Justin privately or if he took Justin away with him to the city's seedy under-belly). Whatever the details, a life raised by the man who killed his parents made the Praetorian version of Justin into a highly-trained criminal who applied himself as an assassin. He would eventually be picked up by Marcus Cole when forming his new government. Fall of Society and Rise of Praetoria In Primal Earth an inter-stellar race called the Rikti invaded. The Rikti were from an alternate dimension - attracted to Primal Earth by forces beyond Primal Earth or the Rikti's control. Even before the circumstances that got Primal Earth the Rikti's attention, the Rikti were still avid conquers and upon arriving on Primal Earth, a massive war took-place (This was the launch event of the game, making the event the start of the game's timeline any player could be involved in). The Rikti War changed society for the main game in many ways. Since the Rikti were an inter-dimensional invasion force, there is only one version of them (as Rikti), and so no Rikti War took place in Praetoria Earth - which lead to a different disaster, the rise of Hamidon. Hamidon exists in both Primal and Praetorian Earth's. In both worlds, Hamidon was an environmentally minded genetic researcher who inadvertently transformed himself into an Incarnate - an eldritch monstrosity with power over the environment. After his transformation, Hamidon loses all his humanity, both in physical form and psyche', though he still is capable of thinking on a human-like level, just with no value on normal humans. His environmental concerns now all-consuming, with humanity seen more like locust on the planet. Hamidon was going to attack humanity shortly after his transformation, but with the Rikti invading he needed to lay-low unsure of how the invaders would affect his plans for the planet. Hamidon was discovered during the Rikti War, laying in wait, and so he was pruned back during the war, and then fully defeated (mostly) after the War. In Praetoria, with no Rikti, Hamidon just attacked with all he had once his experiments transformed him into an embodiment of the planet's wrath. These were the Hamidon Wars. Hamidon gave off a spore that infected biological creatures, turning them into hosts for hostile planet-life that usurped their nerves-system, grew out of their flesh and consumed them, till gigantic plant-based humanoids were the result. Hamidon also crafted humanoid giants out of raw rock, all these creatures share an enthralled hive-mind as extensions of Hamidon. Hamidon's abominations swept over the world as plague. Entire governments fell with chains-of-command dismantled by officials that became infected or killed by infected during the outbreak. To combat this event a crusade of meta-humans formed to fight-back the monsters. Most meta-humans have some sort of altered immune-systems and so stood often immune to infection - added to this was their actual super-powers, and the virgining rise in meta-humans turned into a recruitment drive. Marcus Cole lead the fight in the Hamidon Wars, rescuing who he could and beating back the monsters, just as Primal Marcus had for the Rikti. As in Primal Earth, Marcus was joined by Shalice Tilman, Raymond Keyes, Steven Berry, his grand-daughter Megan, and Justin Sinclair. Justin established himself as a master killer - an impressive feat considering all his skills were taught or bought, not the result of super-powers. Hamidon was eventually driven back, Marcus, Justin and the others met a man named Michael White A.K.A. "Marauder", who had been collecting survivors and decided to form a new society from the remnants of the old. Marcus declared himself the emperor of this new society and those who had fought Hamidon with him as his Praetors (including Michael for rescuing citizens during the fight). Justin was trained by Doppelgänger to be an assassin - his skills combined with his wealth and the aid he offered Cole in the war made him Cole's "trouble-shooter" - in truth of-course, this meant Justin worked as the official/unofficial assassin for Emperor Cole. Chimera likes to kill, so getting an excuse to do it on a regular basis has given him purpose in life. Chimera's fulfillment in murder has actually made him see his place as the Emperor's personal assassin as a prestigious position - his underlining desire to kill, now accentuated by the validation that he is an intricate part in maintaining the greater order. Chimera killed many surviving world leaders in the struggle to prevent anyone who tried from adequately taking issue with Cole's place as the world's new leader, their deaths easily attributed to Hamidon in the post-war chaos. After Cole was seen as the undisputed new world power, while the other Praetor's were rebuilding society, Chimera was making sure whatever their new projects were, were unchallenged. Praetor Sinclair's current focus is on The Resistance - rebel citizens who do not view Cole's methods as acceptable. In particular, Chimera is hunting down one-of; if not -The- top commander of The Resistance, Belladonna Vetrano - Praetorian version of the Primal Earth super-villainess, Ghost Widow. Chimera vs Belladonna Players who start off as Praetorians in the Going Rogue expansion, will need to work for at-least a couple of the Praetors who rule of Praetoria as part of their story arcs unless they choose to side with the Resistance. As the Resistance resorts to terrorist activities to undermine the oppressive Praetorian government and have two branching paths to focus on - one focused on anarchy and the other on freedom - neither able to fully exist without the other, Praetoiran loyalists have two inverse paths, one focused on maintaining order at all coasts and one about building power and influence for one-self by enforcing the law - Chimera speaks of order but in truth following him is all about influence as he is looking for an excuse to legally kill people. Belladonna Vetrano sits on the fence between both terrorist and freedom-fighter, not shying away from extreme methods but never giving into violence purely for violence sake - with the eventual freedom of Praetoria as her main goal. Belladonna has the same lover in Primal Earth and Praetorian Earth - Paolo Marino, in Primal Earth he was mutated into The Wretch trying to save Belladonna from chemical fire, in Praetorian Earth Belladonna was never in any such fire and as such Paolo never mutated and is an officer in the Praetorian Police Force. Paolo has been up for promotion several times but refused seemingly out of humility to his superiors - however as Chimera finds out while spying on him, it was in-fact to retain an innocuous position where he had access to police records without much clout to draw attention to himself so he could continue to transfer sensitive files, records and police movements to his lover in the Resistance. Chimera will send the players working for him to bring Belladonna to him once he tracks Paolo's communications with her - turning Belladonna in or siding with her is a potential turning point for the player to either be the hero who took down one of the main forces behind the Resistance or a valued member of the Resistance who was too ambitious to take orders from the sociopathic imperial assassin and ultimately turns on the oppressive government. Regardless of players choice, as shown in the Belladonna Vetrano Task-force in the late game's Incarnate trials, Belladonna either escapes or evades Chimera's grasp until the Praetorian's attempts to invade Primal Earth have back-fired and Primal Earth is invading them to tear down their oppressive government. Both the Freedom Phalanx heroes of Primal Earth and the villainous Arachnos are siding with The Resistance - The Freedom Phalanx to combat the evil of their alternate universe selves, and Arachnos because The Resistance will remake a new government once the Praetorians are out and they want to either run said government or have such a government deeply indebted to them. Belladonna's task-force has Belladonna and Chimera cornering each-other - Chimera had finally trapped Belladonna by killing Paolo and letting her find him then cut off all escape routes. Despite the trap Chimera himself is also in a bind as Ghost Widow (Belladonna's Primal counterpart working for Arachnos) has psychically cut Chimera off from the Seer-Net, Praetor Tilman used to keep track of him and send back-up to. Killing Paolo enraged both Belladonnas - Praetoria Belladonna to the point where she was willing to die to avenge her beloved Paolo and Ghost Widow content to either see the man who killed her alternate-reality lover dead or give her alternate self the honor of dying for her beloved. Either way, Chimera is encountered at a critical point for both himself and Belladonna. By the point one can do Belladonna's Task Force the Praetorian government is exposed as corrupt, so even former Praetorians who worked for Chimera have an excuse to want him dead - for using them as pawns purely to maintain Chimera's clout rather than as peace-keepers as he originally sold himself to them. Once Chimera is defeated he darts off - virtually blind without the Seer-Net to guide him to his allies while in critical condition. Magisterium Trial Praetor Sinclair will be encountered one last time, having made it to a trauma center and treated before he died of his wounds then being shipped off to Emperor Cole himself. In Chimera's final encounter he is the last of Cole's main Praetors still alive - all those other than Praetor White, seemingly dead by then - and White himself imprisoned in Primal Earth after losing to them. Cole gives Chimera a sip of The Well of the Furies, his power-source - multiverse nexus point that conceptual power itself comes from. The Well had made Cole's Primal Earth self - Statesman, a demi-god and would have made him a full god, but Statesman refused as the price was becoming addicted to The Well's power Emperor Cole had not refused such a price and The Well is not only the source of his power but his extremist attitude. With his defeat a growing possibility, Cole shared sips of The Well with all his Praetors and by the time of the final Incarnate Trial - the Magisterium Trial where Cole is finally fought, Chimera has come into his powers and is a demi-god level threat. Chimera brings out Black-Swan - an evil enchantress, Nega-Pendragon - the evil-side of the leader of an ancient order of knights, Shadowhunter a mad undead huntsman who lives for the kill. Though Cole looks on in disgust at the sort of creatures he must rely on without his previously noble (to him) Praetors, Chimera sees them as just as good as his former allies. As the last "reliable" ally Cole has - Chimera is put in-charge of the conscripts to protect their emperor at all costs. Defeating Chimera in this trial implies his (as well as Nega-Pendragon, Black Swan and Shadowhunter's) deaths. With his last Praetor gone, Cole is willing to go as far as to burn Praetoria to the ground with no-one left to rely on. Personality Both Manticore and Chimera have a preference for lethal methods, however where Maticore's team-mates hold him back from giving into his inclinations for the sake of public-relations, legal reasons and just merciful preferences, Emperor Cole - far from being adverse to lethal force finds it necessary for running a government and actively encourages it, this is to say nothing of Chimera's pseudo-father-figure being a cold-blooded killer who raised him as such. Praetor Sinclair loves his work, both the killing it-self and the strokes to his ego he gets from knowing he is part of the system that makes Praetoria work (even if it is the messier part). Conversely to Sinclair's fondness for Emperor Cole for giving him an excuse to kill, Emperor Cole in-fact strongly dislikes Sinclair, as necessary as he is Cole buys-into-his own greater-good narrative and wishes he did not need to rely on a professional killer as one of his right-hands. When working under Sinclair, Chimera represents himself to Praetorian players as a wet-works specialist doing his duty and willing to let them be highly-paid super-spies under Praetoria's premiere spy-master. He asks the Praetorian players to kill many hapless middle-men/women to maintain the greater order of Praetoria, when he is exposed as being party to Praetoria's cover-up his facade crumbles to reveal he was just using them as highly-specialized temps in his assassin squad. Chimera was a cold-blooded killer even before drinking of the well, so after drinking of it and gaining god-like powers he does not even put up the pretense of justice and is faced as a true psychopath. Trivia *Praetor Sinclair represents the "Power Loyalist story-line for Praetorian players - a path where one helps the Praetorian government as opposed to the Resistance, but for the raw benefits that gives, not the greater good path "Responsibility Loyalist" path. *Chimera serves functions much closer to Primal Earth super-villain, Captain Mako, than Manticore. *In Primal Earth, Justin's angst over his parents often leaves him asking why he can't kill criminals, something that the Statesman version of Marcus Cole, opposes. With Justin's lethal preferences actively needed, he and the Tyrant version of Marcus Cole are very close. *In Primal Earth, Justin Sinclair and Shalice Tilman would eventually be married. The Praetorian versions of them seem to have no such feeling for each-other, and actually on opposing preferences for how to enforce Cole's government, with Sinclair the Power Loyalist path and Tilman emphasizing the Responsibility Loyalist path. *Justin is presumed still wealthy, but no longer due to his inheritance as the War would have done away with previously financial systems, instead, Justin's current wealth is due to his status as a highly-paid assassin. Category:City of Heroes Villains Category:Assassins Category:Extremists Category:Supervillains Category:Arrogant Category:Tragic Category:Failure-Intolerant Category:Oppressors Category:Opportunists Category:Sophisticated Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Conspirators Category:Enforcer Category:Wealthy Category:Stalkers Category:Spy Category:Amoral Category:Provoker Category:Psychopath Category:Master of Hero Category:Possessed/Brainwashed Category:Presumed Deceased Category:Male Category:Neutral Evil